Cheap pay-as-you-go mobile broadband for laptop in the US?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Cheap pay-as-you-go mobile broadband for laptop in the US?
Most of the time, I am at either our Spanish or US offices, and so connected over our own broadband networks. While traveling in Europe, I am able to use a 3G USB modem with service from Vodafone which works fine - connectivity is good and €20 a month gets me all the usage I can use while anywhere in Spain and roaming around Europe is €12 a day.
If I wasn't using that for travel around Europe, Simyo has an even better deal which is pure pay-as-you-go, with no monthly fee at all and reasonable cost.
The question is - is there anything similar available in the U.S.? Our cellular voice service is with Verizon, but the only applicable plan I see with them runs $40 per month (for only 250Mb) which seems a bit steep for the amount of and type of usage I would typically have (maybe connecting on only 4 or 5 days a month, but on each of those days potentially having pretty high data transfer.
Can anyone recommend any good alternatives? I would be especially interested in a pay-as-you-go card like Simyo's, with a flat rate per day, applied only when there is usage.
If I wasn't using that for travel around Europe, Simyo has an even better deal which is pure pay-as-you-go, with no monthly fee at all and reasonable cost.
The question is - is there anything similar available in the U.S.? Our cellular voice service is with Verizon, but the only applicable plan I see with them runs $40 per month (for only 250Mb) which seems a bit steep for the amount of and type of usage I would typically have (maybe connecting on only 4 or 5 days a month, but on each of those days potentially having pretty high data transfer.
Can anyone recommend any good alternatives? I would be especially interested in a pay-as-you-go card like Simyo's, with a flat rate per day, applied only when there is usage.
#2
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,939
Where do you tend to use your laptop from? If cost is your primary factor, I think WiFi roaming from iPass or Boingo may be a good option. You're coverage is not as good (e.g.; trying to use from a car or on a plane pre-departure), but you can use it many hotels, airports, restaurants, etc.
#3
Original Poster
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Where do you tend to use your laptop from? If cost is your primary factor, I think WiFi roaming from iPass or Boingo may be a good option. You're coverage is not as good (e.g.; trying to use from a car or on a plane pre-departure), but you can use it many hotels, airports, restaurants, etc.
#4
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Detroit; Formerly Dubai
Posts: 3,652
Grab a Verizon broadband USB modem off Ebay. You can buy a day pass for $15 which is pretty much unlimited data for that day. You can buy the day pass cards at a Verizon Store. Keep a spare in your briefcase. Connect to the card using the VZ Manager software and there is a place to type in the code.
Virgin Mobile has just released PAYG. It is not an overly great deal, but here it is:
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband
ATT has 100 megs of PAYG data for $20 per month. It is meant for PDA users, but you could tether.
By the way, your Vodafone stick probably works here at double price it does for European roaming:
http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatc...0097#P107_2123
Virgin Mobile has just released PAYG. It is not an overly great deal, but here it is:
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband
ATT has 100 megs of PAYG data for $20 per month. It is meant for PDA users, but you could tether.
By the way, your Vodafone stick probably works here at double price it does for European roaming:
http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatc...0097#P107_2123
#5
Original Poster
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By the way, your Vodafone stick probably works here at double price it does for European roaming:
http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatc...0097#P107_2123
http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatc...0097#P107_2123
#6
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Virgin Mobile has just released PAYG. It is not an overly great deal, but here it is:
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband
#7
Moderator Hilton Honors, Travel News, West, The Suggestion Box, Smoking Lounge & DiningBuzz
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Cricket (if it has coverage where you need to be in the U.S.)
$40/month, no contract.
Either take the free modem deal or buy one off of CL for a few bucks.
And, btw:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...highlight=data
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...highlight=data
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...highlight=data
$40/month, no contract.
Either take the free modem deal or buy one off of CL for a few bucks.
And, btw:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...highlight=data
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...highlight=data
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...highlight=data
Last edited by cblaisd; Nov 15, 2009 at 5:27 pm
#8
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Thanks. That Cricket coverage map is thin, thin, thin. Home in the CLT area looks fine, but there are lots of areas where I travel frequently - even some fairly large airports - ATL, MIA, DTW, JFK(!)... - with no broadband at all.
#9
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I would say if you are always hitting five days a month, you should probably just get one of the dedicated data plans with any of the majors. They run $60 a month for 5 gb of data. Either tie that in with a usb modem or a mifi router from Verizon or Sprint and you may save some money.
If you have a corporate discount with verizon for the voice they may be able to extend that to the data line too saving you a few pennies.
Verizon offers pay as you go, $15 a day for 75 megs of data, $30 a week for up to 250 meg of data, or $50 for a month and up to 500 megs of data.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/m...ucts_prepaidmb
If you have a corporate discount with verizon for the voice they may be able to extend that to the data line too saving you a few pennies.
Verizon offers pay as you go, $15 a day for 75 megs of data, $30 a week for up to 250 meg of data, or $50 for a month and up to 500 megs of data.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/m...ucts_prepaidmb
#10
Moderator Hilton Honors, Travel News, West, The Suggestion Box, Smoking Lounge & DiningBuzz
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It also has the first month free, no contract, and a free modem.
So for certain folks it might still be useful.
#11
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.2; U; Series60/3.1 NokiaE71-2/100.07.76; Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)
Check to be sure - some of the Cricket discount deals require that you sign up for automatic account replenishment.
Check to be sure - some of the Cricket discount deals require that you sign up for automatic account replenishment.
Last edited by Non-NonRev; Nov 19, 2009 at 3:48 pm